Frederick zorn



(No Model.) 2 Sheets-Sheet I.

1P. ZORN. y SAFETY GUARD POR GARS.

No. 529,095. 'Patented Nov. 13, 1894.

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(No Model.) v 2 Sheets-Sheet 2. F. ZORN. SAFETY GUARD POR GARS. No.529,095. Patented Nov. 13, 1894.

m MTW? UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

FREDERICK ZORN, OF NEW YORK, N. Y.

SAFETY-GUARD FOR CAARS.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 529,095, dated November13, 18794. Application filed June 21, 1894. Serial No. 515,233. (Nomodel.)

To all whom it may concern/.-

Be it known thatv I, FREDERICK ZORN, of New York,in the county and Stateof New York, have invented a new and useful Improvement in Safety-Guardsfor Oars,of which the following is a specification.

My invention relates to an improvement in safety guards for cars, theobject being to provide an efficient device which may be secured to thedash board of a car in position to strike a person or other object whichmight happen to be in front of the car a yielding blow.

A further object is to provide a device which will automatically returnto its normal position.

A practical embodiment cf my invention is represented in theaccompanying drawings, in whichy Figure l isa side view of my device inits normal or extended position, one guard piece and upright only beingshown for the sake of clearness. Fig. 2 is a similar view of the devicein its contracted or rearward position. Fig. 3 is a top plan view of mydevice, showing the device in its extended position, as in Fig. 1; andFig. 4 is a top plan view of the,

same, showingthe device in its contracted position, as shown in sideelevation in Fig. 2.

A designates the platform of a car and a one of its dash boards. To thefront of the dash board are pivoted two sets of swinging arms B and B',the arms B being located some distance above the arms B. To the outerends of the arms B B', I pivot upper and lower triangular pieces C, C".The triangular pieces O are secured to rock together by a curved rockbar D which follows substantially the contour of the dash board, whenthe guard is in its normal position. The triangular pieces C are alsospacedapart and secured together bya corresponding curved rock bar D.The upperandlower curved bars D and D are connected bya number ofvertical rods or bars E. A plurality of curved guard pieces F, one foreach of the bars E, have a sliding engagement at their upper ends witheach of the said vertical bars E and, at or near their lower ends, areconnected to the curved bar D by jointed arms f, which hold the curvedguard pieces F normally extended. When the device is in its normalposition, the guard right angles to the curved bars D, D. ,a l

The arms B, B and the parts which they support are held .yieldingly inposition by pieces F radiate outwardly, at substantially means ofsprings G, G which are secured at their upperends to the dash board andat their lower ends tov the free ends of rods vg, g'.

f These rods, g, g are pivotally secured at their -shown at h (Fig. l).A rod I, extends transversely across under the platform and is securedat its ends in brackets t'. Upon this shaft, I mount a two armed lever Kin position to rock thereon. From the upper arm of this lever, I extenda bar k rearwardly and pivot it to the car truck at a point considerablybelow theshaft I, as shown at k. -From the lower arm of the two armedlever K, I extend a short rod k2 to a cross shaft L on the fender I-I.The reason for securing the fender in this manner is that, as the carplatform rises and falls to a greater or lesser degree, the fender iscaused to recedefrom or approach the platform, so that it is at alltimes in close proximity to the track without touching it.

Proceeding to describe the operation of my invention: as the guards Fstrike a person or other object, they will be forced backwardly, becauseof their jointed connection, the upper ends of the guards slidingupwardly along the vertical rodsE. After the guards have been forcedinwardly, the triangular pieces are forced rearwardly, swinging themupon their pivotal connections with the arms B, B against the tension ofthe springs G, G. These triangular pieces are forced rearwardly to agreater or lesser degree, according to the resistance of the objectwhich is struck by the guard, the position shown in Fig. 2 being theextreme rearward position of the triangular pieces. The arms B B arealso forced more or less in a downwardly/direction. It will be seenthat, because of the curved IOO bars D, D being secured firmly tothetriangular pieces C, C', that, as the triangular pieces are rotated in arearward direction, the curved rock bars instead of following thecontour of the dash board will be caused to curve inwardly to a greateror lesser degree, thereby drawing the outer ends of the guard pieces Fcloser together, causing them to hold more securely any part of theperson or object which may have been forced between them, while in theiroutermost position.

If the guard pieces F should fail to grasp the person or object snugly,it will be seen that the fender H beneath the guard pieces F willprevent the person or object from rolling beneath the car.

After the person or object has been withdrawn from in front of theguard, the different parts will again resume their former extendedposition by the contraction of the springs Gr, G. The guard pieces Fwill resume their extended position, because of the location of theirjointed connection with the lower curved rock bar D.

It is evident that slight changes might be resorted to in theconstruction and arrangement of the several parts, without departingfrom the spirit and scope of my invention, hence I do not wish to limitmyself strictly to the structure herein set forth, but

1. A safety guard for cars, comprising a rock bar, means for supportingit, and a series of guard pieces secured to the rock bar in yieldingadjustment spaced apart and extending outward away from each other, therock bar being constructed to draw the free ends of the guard piecestoward each other as it is rocked rearwardly, substantially as setforth. 2. A safety guard for cars, comprising a rock bar curvedoutwardly when in its normal position, means for yieldingly holding therock bar in its normal position, anda series of yielding guard piecessecured to the rock bar, the free ends of said guard pieces being spacedapart and extended outward away from each other when the bar is in itsnormal position, and drawn toward each other as the bar is rockedrearwardly, substantially as set forth.

A safety guard for cars, comprising a pair of arms secured at theirinner ends to the car, supporting pieces pivoted to the outer ends ofthe said arms, a rock bar secured to the said supporting pieces, springssecured to the car and the supporting pieces for yieldingly holding therock bar in its forward position, and a series of yielding guard piecessecured to the rock bar, substantially as set forth.

4. A safety guard for cars, comprising a pair of rock bars one above theother, means for supporting the rock bars, a series of ver tical rods,connecting the two rock bars, a series of yielding guard pieces, one foreach rod, secured to the lower rock bar by jointed arms, the upper endsof the guard pieces having a sliding engagement with the vertical rods,substantially as set forth.

5. A safety guard for cars, comprising a rock bar, means for yieldinglyholding the rock bar in its forward position, a series of rearwardlyyielding guard pieces secured to the rock bar, and a fender secured tothe car and extending beneath the guard pieces and rock bar,substantially as set forth.

FREDERICK ZORN.

Witnesses:

FREDK. HAYNES, R. B. SEWARD.

